Fukutaro Menbei Mentaiko Crackers Green Onion

This one is a Hakata exclusive, and the choice of ingredient is not arbitrary. Fukuoka runs on green onion.

It goes into the city’s signature tonkotsu ramen by the handful — Hakata ramen shops put a bowl of chopped negi on the counter for customers to add themselves — and into motsunabe, the offal hotpot the city is known for, where it is piled on in a mound rather than scattered.

Fukutaro’s own description calls negi the thing Fukuoka people love, which is less marketing than statement of fact.

Japanese negi is not quite the spring onion sold elsewhere.

It is thicker, with a longer white shaft, and when heated it turns sweet rather than sharp — closer to a leek in behaviour than to a scallion.

That sweetness is what comes through here.

Against the salt and chilli of the mentaiko, the negi softens the edges and adds an aromatic, faintly sugary depth, so this ends up the mildest and most fragrant of the standard Menbei range.

It is also the lowest in calories of the four, for whatever that is worth.

Everything else is the Menbei construction: squid and octopus worked into a starch dough, seasoned with mentaiko, chilli and a tare, pressed into thin flat sheets.

Eight sealed packets of two, 180-day shelf life.

Being a Hakata-limited flavour, it is the one that people who already know Menbei have often not tried.

About this item
Item Name : Menbei Green Onion
Brand : Fukutaro
Item Form : Starch Cracker
Allergens: Wheat, squid, soybean
Number of Items : 8 Counts, 16 Counts (Box of 1)